How to sell your home fast?

When you have made the decision to sell your house, you obviously want to do so as quickly as possible – especially if you have already found your dream home. Unfortunately, this puts pressure on you to sell quickly, which means that you may be forced to accept a lower price.

Here’s a thought: why not consider renting a property for a few months? This takes all the pressure off, because you are now out of the housing chain. You can look for your dream home at your leisure. At the same time, you can hold out for the best price for your own home.

However you do it, you really want to sell your home as quickly as possible, so here are some tips to help you achieve that.

• Home improvements to sell your home fast

Take an honest look at your home, from the point of view of a prospective buyer. Do the walls need a lick of paint? If you have been in the house for some time, they very probably do. Furthermore, while you may just adore the shade of purple that you painted your bedroom, most people won’t. Use light colors. Magnolia is a very good choice, and thousands of people love it.

Are there holes in the plaster, where little Johnny rammed it with his pedal car? Get them fixed.

A tear in the settee? Fix that, too. At the very least, cover it with a cushion. No, you are not selling your settee, but it makes up part of the ambience of your home.

Narrow spaces such as hallways can be brightened by hanging a couple of mirrors, adding light. A table lamp can add light to a dark corner.

Paint the front door in order to give a good first impression.

Are your windows old-fashioned and out of date? It is well worthwhile considering replacing them if they are. Yes, there is a capital outlay, but people prefer to move in without having to undertake a lot of repairs and refurbishment. It seems strange, but if you spend – say - $5,000 on new windows and can ask an extra $10,000 for your home, it is well worth doing.

• Staging and marketing your home for sale

Here is another thing: when you have established the market value of your home, add another 5% to the price. Most people will want to haggle and get a discount, so by doing this you can give them the discount and still get the price that you wanted.

Unless you are selling your home yourself – which is perfectly possible, but is an awful lot of hassle - you need to appoint a realtor. Will you appoint a sole agent or multiple agents? A sole agent should give you a lower commission rate, but if you use several realtors you stand a better chance of a quick sale.

De-clutter your home. If you are like most homeowners, you have odds and bits lying around that make the rooms untidy. Don’t leave dirty washing-up in the kitchen.

If you have an open fire and it is winter time, light the fire. This is very welcoming and appealing to many people.

Get rid of any odors. Open windows and get rid of cigarette smoke. Unpleasant smells are a very big turn-off for most people. Conversely, pleasant smells will help. The smell of freshly baked bread is almost universally loved. It might not be practical to do this for every prospective buyer, but you can always brew some fresh coffee, even if you don’t drink coffee.

A vase or two of flowers also helps make your rooms look attractive.

Start packing things in readiness for your move early on. This will save you rushing later. You have clothes hanging in your wardrobe that you have not worn for ages. If you have something that you have not worn for two years, you will never wear it again. Fact. So get rid of it.

If you have a yard, tidy it up. Trim back bushes, get rid of weeds, and mow the grass. People need to be able to envisage themselves sitting in the sun and having a barbecue.

Think of it this way: if you went to view and consider buying a used car, and you found the paintwork was dirty, the engine was covered in oil, and the carpets had cigarette ends and bits of paper on them, you probably wouldn’t consider buying it at any price.

When people buy a home, they want life easy. They don’t want to have to move in and start decorating and cleaning up. Your job is to make your home look as inviting as it can possibly be.